Category Archives: Internal Communications

It’s every CEO’s nightmare – an incident of employee malfeasance threatens to shatter an organization’s reputation and undermine its ability to recruit.

A hat tip to @realdanlyons at HubSpot for flagging a video that turned Australia’s Chief of the Army Lieutenant-General David Morrison into what The Sydney Morning Herald calls an “unlikely feminist hero.”

The Australian Army on Wednesday posted a YouTube video responding to an exploding scandal over officers and other defense force members allegedly producing and distributing explicit emails and photos denigrating women – at a time when the Army is trying to recruit more female soldiers.

What makes the video outstanding isn’t so much the forthright manner of confronting the problem head-on and pledging action, which is good crisis communications practice (see FedEx’s video response after an employee was caught delivering a new computer monitor by throwing it over the fence). Rather, it’s the strength of the personal commitment Morrison makes to change. “I will be ruthless in ridding the army of people who cannot live up to its values,” he says.

His steely delivery leaves no doubt of his seriousness – staring straight into the camera, the guy goes two full minutes without blinking. Morrison delivers a beautifully clear and bold piece of internal communications to his solders: “If you’re not up to it, find something else to do with your life. There is no place for you amongst this band of brothers and sisters.”